When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Ice Cream

by Laura Jensen Walker

A Humors is Read; this book is a collection of personal stories put together by the author about different areas in her life

173 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2005

About the author

Award-winning author Laura Jensen Walker has written several books, including the Lefty nominated historical fiction, DEATH OF A FLYING NIGHTINGALE. Dubbed "riveting and affecting" by NYT bestselling author Susan Elia MacNeal, this book spotlights a group of real-life overlooked women heroes--the Flying Nightingales--from WWII. An Air Force veteran formerly stationed in the UK, Laura had the great honor of interviewing the last living Flying Nightingale, before she passed.

Bibliophile Laura fell in love with mysteries after reading Trixie Belden in the fourth grade, Her cozy mystery debut, MURDER MOST SWEET (2020) was nominated for an Agatha Award, and her next cozy, THE ALPHABET SLEUTHS, releases in Feb. 2026. Publishers Weekly says about the book: "Walker's feisty, funny, and fully realized seniors easily sit beside the casts of THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB and THE MARLOW MURDER CLUB in the coy pantheon. Readers will be charmed."

THE POSTMISTRESS OF PUDDLINGTON, Laura's second historical novel, features women on the home front in WWII England and releases in August 2026. She is currently at work on a women's fiction novel (aka book club fiction.)

Laura flew a typewriter across Europe in Uncle Sam's Air Force in her twenties, and lived in England for three years where she became a lifelong, tea-loving Anglophile. Shenow lives in Northern California with her Renaissance-man husband and their two rescue pups.

Reviews

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all, let me just say that Laura Jensen Walker is great with humor!! I had already read one of her novels, Dreaming in Black and White, prior to reading this book, and I thoroughly enjoyed it! She has a great knack of using just the right words to make you laugh and smile.

When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Gets Ice Cream is a collection of personal stories that Laura has put together about different events in her life. I could definitely identify with her college experiences, especially with not knowing what I want to do with my life (choosing a major is not an easy thing). But I loved reading about her travels in Europe, whether it was because of work or going over there for pleasure. The stories weren’t always about the good times. She talks about her struggles with breast cancer and deaths in her family. But through it all, there was always a bowl of ice cream nearby.

I typically don’t read a lot of non-fiction, but the title and book cover alone compelled me to read this book. It was wonderful, light reading that gave me a good laugh at the end of some of my crazy days lately.

[M · Rating 2 out of 5]

From reading the back cover, I was hoping for more comedy, but the book didn't achieve that. The anecdotes are very sweet, and yes, some are inspiring, but they're not that funny. The chapters are very short, perhaps too short, that they don't have the momentum and opportunity to build into anything too comedic. You could breeze through this in a day and will probably be tempted to scan through much of it.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a cute book although I didn't really care for the authors style of writing. All of her sentences seemed very short. It got a little annoying. But overall, she had some good things to say about life's lessons that she has learned. I'm all about a book that can do that.